Thursday

Busy day of work so little time to do much else but definitely very cold outside, I believe that it was about -12 last night.

Not long before it got dark however Matt did manage to mix up some plasster and make a start on the taping and joining for the ensuite.

I measured up the gap for the piece next to the fireplace as this will need to be painted before it goes in as we won’t be able to reach it later on. Unfortunately we didn’t have a piece the right size so will need to cut one and Matt would rather do that so since he was busy I went back to work and left him to it.

There’s still some tartiflette left so we had that for dinner and settled in to watch a couple of movies. Matt also decided to play ‘stuff on my cat’, a game entirely new to me but here you go.

[13 January 2022]

Friday

Typical start to my day with a call with the Prof. Sir. [I think we’re creating a bond but he still thinks I’m crazy, he may not be wrong.] Matt then had his calls before we were off briefly to Action and Noz. Bit of a disappointing trip but we did pick up a few bits and pieces.

Back to work. Once my main jobs were done I got onto the wood collecting and sorting but unfortunately drove Matt out the kitchen. Eventually however the new rack was filled, and the kindling basket filled and the fire is cleaned out so it’s soon alight again and peace is restored so Matt can return.

The sales are now on in France so while watching a movie I got a bit distracted. We therefore had to go as soon as it was finished and do some more measurements of the future ‘Blue Bathroom’. I’m keen to avoid us finishing the ensuite and pink bathroom only in 4 weeks to decide that we need to do it all again for the blue bathroom and spend 2x more because we didn’t plan ahead. In the meantime I might have a go at starting on those candlesticks. I was a little concerned once I’d started though as I seemed to be taking all the bronze off [thankfully I was rewarded the next day as they are still bronze just a hell of a lot cleaner] but boy did it take some time to do.

Bed and update time.

[14 January 2022]

Saturday

Meow seems to have recognised that 9am is Matt’s wake up time and therefore time for her breakfast. Unfortunately cats don’t have a concept of weekends so surprisingly she managed to get me out of bed to do the morning feed. Naturally I was quickly back to bed and despite thinking ‘I’m awake, so this is Saturday morning, I wonder what I will do with it?’ I the promptly cuddled Matt and fell back into a much deeper sleep.

By the time I rose again Matt had been pottering about for a while. Not sure what he was doing (hopefully working to free up extra skiing time in the week). Shopping is on the agenda for the day but since the French have a 2 hour break at lunchtime I’d convinced him that there was no use even leaving home before 1pm at the earliest. He was pushing me to get up though as he needs to sand the bits of plaster he’s done on the ensuite and so we need to cover the bed and boxes of our clothes in plastic so they don’t get covered in dust – that was pretty thoughtful.

Since he’s upstairs doing the sanding I start (again) on clearing up the kitchen and putting away the stuff we bought yesterday; if I don’t do it now it will be sitting in the hall and dining room for months. Cleared the litter tray and put the recycling in the car – if I don’t we’ll put it off for yet another day and it’s already full – we’re very green and the bottle bins weren’t even half full before you ask!

Matt’s done so quick pack up and we’re off. The new mini rucksack is getting its first outing and already proving its €2 price tag. After we’ve dropped off the recycling we’re off to Pau, about an hours drive west.

First stop – Leroy Merlin. It’s a bit like B&Q but a bit better as has more homewares sort of stuff. They had a lovely outdoor set up with an outdoor kitchen and pergola etc that I’d like. It’s also the cheapest place to get switches etc so we went mad and got 8 of everything.

Before we leave Pau we’re off to a ‘supercharger’. We don’t actually need one but I think we’re testing before we need to do a big trip cross country. It worked and I did careoke while we waited although the song choice is limited – Tesla definitely need to make this better; ideally if it could play my songs with French translations underneath and then I could sing along and practice my French while Matt drives us around.

After a few minutes charging we were back on the road and off to Tarbes.

When we arrived however we realised that we had actually planned to go to the Lapyere in Pau, oops! The shop was a bit disappointing to be honest, I think the key is to go through all the sale stuff online and then go to pick it up, but the sales part of their site isn’t very user friendly and hard to filter. There were a couple of nice tiles though.

Next stop is Saint-Maclou, a flooring shop. We made some decisions on what we wanted and the young lady was very helpful, she clearly understood much of what we said (in English) but doesn’t speak it, although we muddled through. Unfortunately however the first one I chose isn’t in stock and would need to be ordered in, and the second one comes on a 4m roll and since they don’t deliver there was no way that we’ed be able to put it in the car. So it was half a step forward, at least now I have seen the ones that I want, we have the details of them and can hopefully find someone online that will deliver.

I’d seen a pretty awesome origami cat lamp at Centrakor the other day and have talked myself and Matt into why we have to have one. No joy at the first stop, or at the one in Gourdain Polignan. I’ve checked online and only available in store, so looks as though there’s going to be another trip to Estencarbon in the not too distant future. We did however go into Aldi (which I don’t think I’ve ever been into before) and we found some pretty good stuff in their sale – 2 sun loungers at 50% of the usual cost; an oversized bottle of Prosecco; and a cactus.

It’s already 8pm by the time we get home so the cat is complaining that she wants food and we need to get dinner on. We have plenty of canapés that we’d got in for NYE so had those for starters followed by fish dogs and our homemade version of mushy peas since they obviously don’t do these in the supermarkets here. Naturally this pairs well with a regional version of champagne. Seems I forgot what size the pictures were that I got at Christmas so only one of them fits so going to need a couple more big frames. It’s going to need to be done again to straighten it up but for the moment it is better in this than in a tube.

Can’t do much of the work needed on the house in the dark but before we can put the decorative pans up I need to finish polishing them. I also need to finish polishing the second candlestick, I’ve made a good start but it’s been hard work and I could do with a break. Once Matt’s in bed I quickly update the blog and follow.

[15 January 2022]

Sunday

Matt was up early as always while I made the most of my morning by sleeping. Eventually he wanted me up and the lure of bacon and eggs was too much so I relented. We’re getting a bit low on the water dropped off by the lovely Marie neighbour lady so had a quick walk up to the Salle de Fetes to pick up some more.

Once we were back we needed to get started on the plasterboard. We finally got the piece cut that would go next to the fireplace so I went to get it painted while Matt measured up the next piece. While doing so I thought it would be a good idea to air the room out a bit and found a loveliness of ladybirds. The painting of the board didn’t go quite so well. A couple of layers of undercoat and two layers of the paint later and I’m a bit confused as there seems to be almost no colour in it at all, it just looks white to me.

Due largely to Matt’s super strength we managed to finally get the old sideboard into the chicken shed as it’s just been starting to rot away where it was, sitting in the garden under a tarp.

Matt’s then on to doing some more of the plastering as we need to get that finished and painted also before Mr Nogues can come and finish his plumbing for the radiator move. Meanwhile, we need to put up a board that explains the external works we are going to be doing for the upcoming pool install and have it up for at least 2 months before works start so that neighbours etc can see it and if necessary challenge at the Marie. Looks good to me. As it’s starting to get dark I also need to get the fire wood replenished, which is much easier when you can see.

With Matt done upstairs I can run the broom around to pick up all the mud he’s traipsed all over the place and tidy up the kitchen again before dinner. Same deal as last night to finish a few bits off. We’ve run the boiler for ages but it seems that the water still isn’t getting much above body temperature so not sure what’s wrong with it and will add it to Matt’s never ending to-do list. Now just time for TV, blog and relaxation before bed.

[16 January 2022]